TEA Parties nation-wide have found that calling, writing, and showing up in person in D.C. has the same impact as a hiccup in a hurricane. After turning out thousands of citizens at rallies, overwhelming the Senate phone lines and crashing Congress’ e-mail system, our elected representatives are poised to enact the greatest expansion of government in history. The TEA Parties followed the direction of national organizations and associations. They answered the call, but were sent over the trench-line without an actual plan or support. (See, for example, Somme, Battle of) It is time for the TEA Party movement to turn inward. In the words of the age-old adage, “ All politics is local “.

Stories like the ACORN tapes have massive national legs, yet they do not destroy the local farm team of tax-and-spend big government. Fighting for Liberty and the ability to live the American dream requires getting your hands dirty far closer to home.

For the TEA party and 9-12 groups to become effective, they must evolve again, and this time the Gadsden Flag will be a marker laid down to far more personal targets. People find the mundane of daily life and local news forgettable, yet this is how the TEA party can enact meaningful change.

To end the progression of large intrusive government and the progressive agenda, the TEA party must neuter the left’s farm team. City Council, County Board, Park Districts, and School Boards may not have the flash of State Representatives, State Senators or their federal partners, but, they are, indeed, perhaps more the important .

The progressives and Big Government-types have entrenched themselves into local power bases. They have expanded the role of government from the garbage man to the kindergarten teacher. They are taking us over from within, yet we can push back.

Until the last year, our side has been busy with our personal and professional lives. We have looked past machine politics and the local aspects of our lives. We have ignored the corruption in our hometowns. We have chosen to overlook the police state that has grown. We have chosen to allow the nanny state to encroach on smoking in taverns or trans-fat in our doughnuts, to name just two recent examples. We have allowed an extra $.05 sales tax for “insert public good here” after another, without protest or outrage.

In our slumber, we have allowed our liberties to be encroached. We have allowed the will of the State to be imposed on us. In places like Missouri, we have allowed no more than 30 hardened progressives to dictate the tempo of the debate. (Fortunately, we do know who you are and will be outing you here.) We have allowed this to happen because we have not paid attention to the minor league ball game.

We choose instead to protest in Washington, D.C. We chose to show outrage to the political class that is not listening. They won’t listen; they do not have to . They have showered their districts in pork and bribed us with our own money. They can freely come back home from the Beltway bubble to their local farm team and act like they conquered Gaul.

A local mayor and a rogue’s gallery of other officials will hold a press conference with the Representative or Senator and the lamestream media will re-broadcast their talking points. These local co-conspirators will treat the federal officials as Caesar, yet the arch they march through is a fake. These people have only accomplished one thing; they have retained power. They hold power by controlling the means of political production. They control us by controlling our cities, counties, parks, and schools. They have turned us into a class of serfs begging for scraps from the table that we fill. (That’s actually unfair to serfs. In Medieval times, serfs only had to hand over 1/3 of their income to the feudal lords. Add up federal, state and local tax levies, we may much more than serfs ever paid. So, what does that make us?)

Now is the time for the TEA party to show it’s real colors and longevity. Now it is time for us to stop the rallies and start the process of running for election and holding our current officials directly accountable. Now is the time for the plumber, the electrician, and the Joe Six-pack American to end this madness.

No more will we go quietly into that long night. Now, we must fight. We must take back the system and make our elected officials fear “we the people”. This is the battle our forefathers saw many years ago.

This is the time for the Tea Party to seize the day and make a difference. Which party you decide to run on doesn’t matter. Republican or Democrat matters little, as the national leaders of both have lost touch. What matters is we destroy the go-along-to-get-along farm team. It also matters that we pick a party…the Republicans and Democrats have together gamed the system against third parties. Creating a TEA Party isn’t a serious solution. Leverage your power locally to change your party.

Make a pledge to not vote to tax and spend the people’s money. Make a pledge to quit after “x” amounts of terms in office. The people are waiting for a leader; they are waiting for a Captain. Be that Captain. March to the sound of the guns, and seize the day.

With TEA party people in every position of government, the political class in Washington will listen. They will no longer have the political cover of pork-hungry Mayors doing tricks for the political elite. There will no longer be days of staffers blowing people off to vote for their party line.

A carpet-layer has more experience to lead than any political hack. An insurance man has more ability to look at regulations than a risk-adverse lawyer. A veteran has more understanding of what it takes to support our men and women in harms way.

It is time to break the mold of what looks good to get elected. Now is the time to become involved. Now is the time to hear the sounds of battle and join. The Government teat must be turned off. The system needs to be rebooted.

Help start the process and run for office. The great sleeper that is America has woken up. 2010 is not the end game, neither is 2012. The end game is when we level the playing field and make America once again the land of opportunity.

Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president … I keep wondering what country he believes he’s president of.

In one of my very favorite stories, Edward Everett Hale’s “The Man without a Country,” a young Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan stands condemned for treason during the Revolutionary War, having come under the influence of Aaron Burr. When the judge asks him if he wishes to say anything before sentence is passed, young Nolan defiantly exclaims, “Damn the United States! I wish I might never hear of the United States again!”

The stunned silence in the courtroom is palpable, pulsing. After a long pause, the judge soberly says to the angry lieutenant: “You have just pronounced your own sentence. You will never hear of the United States again. I sentence you to spend the rest of your life at sea, on one or another of this country’s naval vessels – under strict orders that no one will ever speak to you again about the country you have just cursed.”

And so it was. Philip Nolan was taken away and spent the next 40 years at sea, never hearing anything but an occasional slip of the tongue about America. The last few pages of the story, recounting Nolan’s dying hours in his small stateroom – now turned into a shrine to the country he foreswore – never fail to bring me to tears. And I find my own love for this dream, this miracle called America, refreshed and renewed. I know how blessed and unique we are.

But reading and hearing the audacious, shocking statements of the man who was recently elected our president – a young black man living the impossible dream of millions of young Americans, past and present, black and white – I want to ask him, “Just what country do you think you’re president of?”

You surely can’t be referring to the United States of America, can you? America is emphatically a Christian nation, and has been from its inception! Seventy percent of her citizens identify themselves as Christian. The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were framed, written and ratified by Christians. It’s because this was, and is, a nation built on and guided by Judeo-Christian biblical principles that you, sir, have had the inestimable privilege of being elected her president.

You studied law at Harvard, didn’t you, sir? You taught constitutional law in Chicago? Did you not ever read the statement of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and an author of the landmark “Federalist Papers”: “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers – and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation – to select and prefer Christians for their rulers”?

In your studies, you surely must have read the decision of the Supreme Court in 1892: “Our lives and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.”

Did your professors have you skip over all the high-court decisions right up till the mid 1900s that echoed and reinforced these views and intentions? Did you pick up the history of American jurisprudence only in 1947, when for the first time a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson about a “wall of separation between church and state” was used to deny some specific religious expression – contrary to Jefferson’s intent with that statement?

Or, wait a minute … were your ideas about America’s Christianity formed during the 20 years you were a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ under your pastor, Jeremiah Wright? Is that where you got the idea that “America is no longer a Christian nation”? Is this where you, even as you came to call yourself a Christian, formed the belief that “America has been arrogant”?

Even if that’s the understandable explanation of your damning of your country and accusing the whole nation (not just a few military officials trying their best to keep more Americans from being murdered by jihadists) of “not always living up to her ideals,” how did you come up with the ridiculous, alarming notion that we might be “considered a Muslim nation”?

Is it because there are some 2 million or more Muslims living here, trying to be good Americans? Out of a current population of over 300 million, 70 percent of whom are Christians? Does that make us, by any rational definition, a “Muslim nation”?

Why are we not, then, a “Chinese nation”? A “Korean nation”? Even a “Vietnamese nation”? There are even more of these distinct groups in America than Muslims. And if the distinction you’re trying to make is a religious one, why is America not “a Jewish nation”? There’s actually a case to be made for the latter, because our Constitution – and the success of our Revolution and founding – owe a deep debt to our Jewish brothers.

Have you stopped to think what an actual Muslim America would be like? Have you ever really spent much time in Iran? Even in Egypt? You, having been instructed in Islam as a kid at a Muslim school in Indonesia and saying you still love the call to evening prayers, can surely picture our nation founded on the Quran, not the Judeo-Christian Bible, and living under Shariah law. Can’t you? You do recall Muhammad’s directives [Surah 9:5,73] to “break the cross” and “kill the infidel”?

It seems increasingly and painfully obvious that you are more influenced by your upbringing and questionable education than most suspected. If you consider yourself the president of a people who are “no longer Christian,” who have “failed to live up to our ideals,” who “have been arrogant,” and might even be “considered Muslim” – you are president of a country most Americans don’t recognize.

I came across the following blog post from my blogroll and was amazed. Not only is it well written, it speaks to several points the hearts of freedom fighters around the country are longing to express. My thanks to “Mike from NC” at common conservative sense. I’ve reprinted only a portion here because I want you to go to Mike’s blog and read the article in its entirety. Then come back here and tell me what you think!

We are in the early stages of a war. There may be no military action, no bullets or bombs, but we are in a war none the less. This war is for the soul of America. [emphasis mine and throughout] This war is for the preservation of the principles our country was founded on and which have kept us free and prosperous since our beginning. President Obama and his allies do not like America, at least not as it is and has been. They do not believe that America is the greatest country in the history of civilization. They do not believe in American exceptionalism. They do not believe that we as Americans have a right to be proud of what we have accomplished and to be proud of the good we have done for the world. They believe America needs to be remade. They are wrong.

Obama and friends are wrong about what America believes and what America stands for.

Americais a Christian nation. There may be arguments about the particular faith of some of the Founding Fathers, but the majority were undeniably Christians. One would have to “willfully suspend disbelief” to believe otherwise after reading our founding documents as well as our history. The real history, not the revisionist history. We do not deny anyone the privilege to worship as they choose, or to decline any form of worship. But our country was founded under Christian principles and beliefs.

The God of our founders and the God I pray to is Yahweh, Jehovah God, the God of Abraham and Issac. The God of the Bible. He is not some generic “man upstairs”. He is the Creator of the universe and of mankind. Because of His deep love for us, He gave His son Jesus willingly as an atonement for our sin. He is boundlessly good and has all power. He is Love, but He is a jealous God. He will chastise and correct us as individuals and as a nation if we stray too far for too long. We have strayed far and long and we need to return to Him as a nation. Pray for His mercy, His blessings, His wisdom and His guidance. If ever we needed it, it is now. If you don’t know Him, seek Him and you will find Him.

We do not believe that America needs to be remade, as Obama has stated. We believe that instead we need to return to the ideals of our Founders. We need to return to lower taxes, limited, smaller government, and unfettered personal freedom.

We do not believe that America is arrogant. Strong, confident and proud, yes. Arrogant, no.

America does not stand for wealth redistribution. We are generous, compassionate people with our money, but our generosity is not for Obama to dictate.

We believe that capitalism is the best economic system. Socialism doesn’t work. Marxism doesn’t work. We believe in equality of opportunity, not in equality of outcome. Some people work harder, some people are smarter, some people have better ideas. When those people succeed, the country succeeds. When they become wealthy, the country becomes wealthy. Wealthy people buy things, they build things, they create jobs, they start businesses, they invest in American prosperity. America would collapse without them. They are not evil and do not deserve punishment.

America does not believe in the punitive taxation of our achievers. We believe in encouraging and rewarding achievement. It is counter productive to tax successful achievers into oblivion. All Americans should pay taxes so that all Americans have a stake in keeping the system honest. Consider that the City of Chicago just closed for a day to save money, with more days scheduled for more savings. A productive business does not save money by closing. Businesses produce wealth by being open for business. The government only takes, while producing nothing. Financially speaking, they are far more efficient and productive if they would just stay at home. We know that poor people don’t get any richer just because money is taken from the wealthy.

America does not stand for federally funded abortion on demand. A large and growing segment of us believe that abortion is wrong. However, the law of the land allows it for now. But using our tax dollars to support it is unacceptable.

America does not believe in a weakened, ineffective military. We do not believe that our military should be used to enforce social experimentation.We believe in spending our tax dollars to equip and train the greatest fighting force ever known to mankind, then praying to God that we will not have to use it. We love peace, but we are not afraid to fight for liberty. We know that we don’t make weak nations any stronger by being weak ourselves. Being the only remaining superpower is a good thing. A very good thing. We have no desire to weaken ourselves in the interest of “fairness”. Senator Barbara Boxer had the audacity to publicly humiliate a brigadier general for referring to her as “ma’am” rather than as ”senator”. This is symptomatic of the arrogance and ignorance of many of our elected representatives. They have come to think of themselves as royalty. They think wrongly. I know of several fitting monikers for Senator Boxer, but decorum prevails.

We welcome legal immigrants, as we always have. But for those who have no more respect for our country and our laws than to cross our borders unlawfully, we are not welcoming. We certainly don’t believe in giving them the rewards of our hard earned tax dollars in the form of social benefits. We do not support amnesty for illegal aliens. Secure our borders and enforce our laws. English is our language. Learn it if you want to live here.

Please comment on your reactions to this article. What do you think of Mike’s post? Do you agree or not? Do you think he’s right in his ascertation? Is it bigoted or racist to have these opinions? Why or why not?

This is perhaps the best of how many of us feel, and right in time for Pearl Harbor Day. It is the text of a letter (hat tips to both Jack @ CBC & Jake @ shyspeak) to President Obama from retired Navy Chief Boatswain’s Mate Harold Estes (verified by Snopes.com). The nonagearian [95-year old] WWII veteran dictated the letter, signed 50 original copies and mailed them to 50 VIPs in addition to the Commander-in-Chief.

Harold B. Estes, veteran of WWII

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don’t believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos’n Mate. Now I live in a “rest home” located on the western end of Pearl Harbor allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.

So here goes.

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can’t figure out what country you are the president of. You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:

“We’re no longer a Christian nation”

“America is arrogant” – (Your wife even announced to the world, “America is mean-spirited.” Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)

I’d say shame on the both of you but I don’t think you like America nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said, “America hasn’t lived up to her ideals.” Which ones did you mean?

1. Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British ?

2. Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War?

3. I hope you didn’t mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellahs I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around because we stand for freedom.

4. I don’t think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer,young man. Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don’t, I’ll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don’t want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts who was putting up a fight? You don’t mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don’t want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you’re thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.

You’re not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That’s not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don’t want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,

Harold B. Estes

These are the words of a true patriot, Mr. President.

Are you listening?

Do you even care?

MORE: A great human interest story about Chief Estes in the Honolulu Advertiser can be found here.

One would think that bringing the world’s most heinous terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba ~ an island ~ and ushering them to the heartland of the United States where the best people are (yes, I said the BEST! = those with the most uncalloused attitudes and moral values) (this IS my blog, afterall…) and housing them in a previously closed detention center in the middle of Illinois might be a bad idea. Well, if you think that might be a bad idea… You’d be RIGHT!!!

The answer is obvious: the politicians, specifically Governor Quinn, aren’t thinking. How could they? This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of! This isn’t a matter of jobs and economic recovery, it’s one of national security for God’s sake!

A gentleman wrote to the local State Journal-Register about a week ago of how he was a guard at Gitmo. He was so scared that the prisoners knew his home address that he’s had sleep and physical problems ever since being scared to death for his family! These are not simple murderers. These are hellions with no soul that feed on fear, are patient through the decades and grow on the temerity of our politicians’ neglect. These terrorists’ will contact or be contacted with cells in the US, get set up here, and begin organizing more terror in our towns, beginning right in Illinois. The letter writer was right—we should ALL be scared to death and stay the hell away from these demons! Don’t bring them here to house them in prison, and don’t put them on trial in New York! They should go before a military commission right now and be hanged before their next meal.

: : : : : : : Now an ACTION ALERT : : : : : : :

Please be aware that Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) is part of the decision-making panel on this issue.

Please take the time to respond on Tribune page if possible, see below.

FROM BEV:

I am heading to DC next week to lobby for a new trial for Michael Behenna, where all the evidence is presented. I will accompany Michael’s mother. I will be in DC on December 2nd and 3rd. Please email to me your letters addressed to Senator Durbin and I will personally deliver them to Durbin’s office before I leave DC. Let’s let him know that we don’t want the Gitmo detainees in our state. If Durbin and Quinn want to utilize the Thomson facility and create jobs, why not take the prisoners from California, they are turning those prisoners out into the streets of California. Perfect place for them is the Thomson facility. California will be safer and Illinoisans will get some jobs!

If Pat Quinn and Senator Durbin want to create jobs by filling up this prison, then take the prisoners from California that are being turned out into the streets of California. The people of the state of Illinois are concerned about the repercussions that will follow from bringing these terrorists to our state. They will be given ACLU lawyers, they will be given a jury of their peers (just think about what a jury of their peers would consist of, the biggest Mosque in this country is in Bridgeview), they will be freed and turned out into our state. Further, I do not want my tax dollars going to defend terrorists who were captured off the battlefields!!!

We have Soldiers who are laying their lives on the line everyday to keep us all safe from these terrorists and now we are going to bring them to our state?!! We have Heroes who have given their lives to keep us all safe and to do this is a slap in the face of every Gold Star Family and every Soldier serving! My Son served 4 deployments in this war on terror and this is a slap in his face and mine! This is a reckless and dangerous proposal and I know the people of Illinois will fight this.

I remind Senator Durbin and Gov Quinn they work for us and it is their DUTY to represent the people of Illinois! If you want to make this facility productive, bring those prisoners from California here!

SPRINGFIELD – — A key state lawmaker wants to fast-track hearings on the possible sale of the Thomson Correctional Center to the federal government, a move made easier when the Quinn administration filed its recommendation for closing the prison.

The Thomson prison has emerged as a leading site for a U.S. detention center to house terrorism suspects now being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Gov. Pat Quinn’s Department of Corrections filed paperwork Wednesday with a legislative oversight commission that must review all major state-facility closings, including the proposed sale of the northwestern Illinois prison, before an administration moves forward.

“Our goal is to have this public hearing by the end of December,” said state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D- Evanston, who co-chairs the bipartisan review panel and said he wants to act “with all deliberate speed.”

“I support the idea of closing the Thomson facility and negotiating a fair price with the federal government for them to acquire the facility,” Schoenberg said. “The area’s desperate for jobs and this would appear to be a responsible way to boost the local economy.”

[…]

Although many Republicans have raised concerns that putting terrorism suspects into the prison would put Illinoisans at risk, Schoenberg dismissed the fears.

“This is not like the ‘Field of Dreams,’ where if you build it, they will come,” Schoenberg said.

Despite Americans’ strong opposition to importing terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison into the United States, the Obama Administration continues to move forward with their dangerous plans to do so anyway. Over the last three days, the Administration has signaled that it will not only bring 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9/11 conspirators to New York City for trial in civilian federal court, rather than continuing their military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, but it also is proposing to house Guantanamo terrorists at a prison in Illinois. [emphasis mine]

House Republicans from Illinois strongly oppose importing these terrorists – men who have made the destruction of America their central focus – into their state. Politico reports on their efforts to block this move and stand up for the American people:

“Illinois Republicans continued their barrage Monday against moving Guantanamo detainees to their state, unveiling legislation that seeks to slow President Barack Obama’s movement to ship terrorist suspects onto U.S. soil.”

“[Rep. Mark] Kirk – along with Illinois Republican Reps. Peter Roskam, Judy Biggert and Don Mazzulo, Tim Johnson, John Shimkus and Aaron Schock – expressed concern about ‘increased attention from the Jihadist world’ that would be paid to Chicago, including the potential that terrorists would be traveling through O’Hare International Airport en route to visiting the detainees.’”

How will trying these terrorists in civilian court, rather than military tribunals, ensure that justice is done for the families of 9/11 victims? Homeland Security Committee Ranking Republican Peter King (R-NY) explained in a New York Post op-ed why this decision puts the interest of liberal, special-interest groups ahead of safety and security of the American people:

“While it may be hailed by Europeans, the ACLU and the far-left-wing of the Democratic Party, the president’s action actually threatens American lives and weakens US national security.”

“By transferring KSM and four of his fellow conspirators from the impenetrable detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to lower Manhattan, the president creates an enormous, unnecessary terror risk to the people who already live and work downtown.”

The American people are firmly opposed to importing terrorists. According to a Gallup survey released this summer, “By more than 3-1, [those surveyed] oppose moving some of the accused terrorists housed there to prisons in their own states.” A survey from Rasmussen confirmed this report.

In short, both the Gallup and Rasmussen surveys show that 75 percent of Americans want to keep terrorists out of America. That’s why House Republicans have introduced the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act (H.R. 2294), legislation aimed at stopping the importation of terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison by:

• Affirming Congress’ opposition to transferring or releasing terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison into the United States.

• Prohibiting the Administration from transferring or releasing any terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay to any state without express approval from the state’s governor and legislature, and certification to Congress that strict requirements have been met.

• Prohibiting the President from transferring or releasing a terrorist detainee into the United States without fulfilling strict congressional notification and certification requirements.

Where do House Democrats stand on this issue, and will they join with most of the American people and oppose importing these dangerous terrorists? Will they schedule a vote on the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act? The decisions by the White House are further evidence it is reverting to a dangerous pre-9/11 mentality – treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue and hoping for the best. What America deserves, instead, is a real strategy for fighting and winning the war on America’s terrorist enemies that includes an effective, credible, and consistent plan for all terrorist detainees.

Every year I write a Thanksgiving note of blessings to my friends. This year, I’ve collected some of the best from my inbox and am sharing them with you because they are what I would have written should I have put my brain back in with all the pieces and engaged it before the coconut custard pie… May the Lord keep us safe and strong as we endeavor to continue in His will for ourselves, our families and our America. Amen. Long live the Constitution.

Whether we like it or not transformative change is upon us. Join me next year in my effort to be worthy of the change we deserve.

Now can someone pass me some pie?

Happy Thanksgiving and God bless you, (Glenn Beck)

Thanksgiving Day is the time to count our many blessings and enjoy a time of fellowship with our families and friends. During a time of high unemployment and national economic crisis, we need to harken back to the foundations of America almost 400 years ago. The courageous Pilgrims, who were in almost ceaseless economic crisis, still gave thanks to our Heavenly Father for all the blessings He had bestowed upon them.

In 1621, as we know, America’s first Thanksgiving was commemorated by the Plymouth Colony after much suffering in a very harsh winter. That year, Massachusetts Governor William Bradford issued a proclamation of Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims invited Indians from the Wampanoag tribe to their celebration and they celebrated with a bountiful Thanksgiving meal.

During the next two hundred and fifty years or so, a number of states celebrated Thanksgiving but there still was no national day of Thanksgiving. In 1863, to unify our nation during the brutal and divisive Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation and announced that it would be the last Thursday in November.

God has truly blessed this nation in so many ways and America has been a beacon of hope to so many. In these divisive times, we need to pray that His hand will continue to protect and guide America so that we will have many more Thanksgiving Days to celebrate.

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD , the Everlasting God.

“Provision”

Four years ago, Egypt was at the top of our list of dream vacations. Scheduling conflicts, however, left Egypt on our wish list as we chose another destination. We still hope to visit Egypt one day.

I especially would like to see the Valley of the Kings, a series of tombs tunneled in the rugged and harsh mountainside. Having held their secrets for more than 3,000 years, the tombs’ discovery in 1881 revealed a wealth of knowledge about Egypt’s earlier dynasties.

While in captivity in Egypt, ancient Israel kept hope alive partly because of a tomb in Canaan (Genesis 50:24-25). Scripture tells us of two covenant transactions Abraham made while living in the land. Securing water for his livestock, Abraham dug a well and gave Abimelech seven ambs “to show [his] agreement” that the well belonged to Abraham (21:30). The second occurred when Abraham bought land for a burial plot after his wife Sarah’s death. In the agreement, a plot of land at Machpelah became Abraham’s possession (23:17-18).

A stranger in the land, Abraham was able to water his flocks and bury his dead as God had promised. Having been told of the captivity of later generations (Genesis 15:13), Abraham possessed by faith what would eventually belong in reality to his descendants. Centuries later, Joshua would lead Israel back to the Promised Land according to what God had spoken: “Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you” (Joshua 1:3).

Beginning with a well and a tomb in Canaan, the promises of God have become manifest in Christ. No visible well is required because the life He provides causes us to “never be thirsty again” (John 4:14-15), and a tomb becomes a promise because “anyone who believes in [Him] will live, even after dying” (John 11:25). —Regina Franklin, Our Daily Journey

Finally, here is an excerpt from Chuck Norris’ latest article,Thankful for Fading Freedoms

To add insult to injury, Washington is going around the backdoor to provide illegals with universal health care by seeking their amnesty. That means Americans eventually would pay for another 14 million people’s government health care. Amnesty also would reduce the number of jobs available to the unemployed by adding more to the legal work force and simultaneously would slow down the rate of the unemployed’s being re-employed.

Washington also has reduced our speech freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment, by passing a hate crimes bill that was amended to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, criminalizing conservative free speech if it can be proved to have contributed to assaults based upon sexual orientation.

The White House even has reduced religious freedoms, by belittling America’s rich Judeo-Christian heritage, enabling a secular-progressive and pro-Islamic agenda, and remaining indifferent to certain issues, such as the American Civil Liberties Union’s disposal in the Mojave Desert and at Mount Soledad of memorial crosses for veterans. It also has turned a blind eye to the whitewashing of our godly heritage from Washington’s historic landmarks and on U.S. artifacts.

In addition, Washington would restrict religious freedoms and freedoms of conscience by forcing pro-life citizens to pay for abortions via universal health care.

Washington also has reduced our Second Amendment firearm freedoms by appointing anti-gun advocates, such as Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s David Michaels, by seeking to micromanage gun ownership via proposed legislation, including H.R. 45, and by politics as usual, such as blaming guns rather than Islamic extremism for the shootings at Fort Hood. (Those who believe that the Second Amendment is a foundational right and freedom might want to consider my new limited edition Chuck Norris Tribute Revolver — available through America Remembers — on their Christmas wish lists.)

Washington also has reduced our freedoms (and those of our service members) by increasing the threats to our country via the delay in response to our generals’ requests for more troops in Afghanistan, allowing Gitmo detainees and terrorists to come to the U.S., and enabling homegrown terrorists, such as Maj. Nidal Hasan, within the very fabrics of our military.

As I consider these many freedom robbers and the political culprit enabling them all, two thoughts repeatedly come to my mind.

The first is from Daniel Webster, who said, “The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power.” I believe we are in the fight of our lives — since the Revolution itself — for American freedoms. I don’t know who said it, but I definitely prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.

The second thought is one attributed to M. Grundler: “It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.”

I don’t think I ever have been as thankful for American freedoms as I am now. I must admit that I’m appallingly alarmed that some of them might not exist at all by this time next year. Like a sunset dropping over the horizon of our Founders’ dreams, our freedoms are vanishing from view.[Pray about this, folks!]

There’s even a list of “I’m thankful for’s” at NaturalNews for your perusal (it’s unedited). So stop a moment and think about your “thankful for’s” and then THANK GOD FOR THEM, BECAUSE ULTIMATELY, HE’S THE ONE WHO GAVE THEM TO YOU.

So…here it is, another Thanksgiving. I hope this day finds you happy, healthy, and enjoying the bounty of good food, surrounded by those you love. I know it can be cliché to talk about what you’re “thankful” for on this day, but maybe some clichés exist for good reason; considering the year you’ve had, with all of the challenges facing this country, what could be a better idea than taking time to count the blessings you do enjoy?

This has been the absolute craziest, most hectic and jam-packed year of my entire life…and I’m incredibly thankful for that. Granted, I could use a bit more sleep (OK, a lot more sleep), but the fact that I’m working so much means that what I believe…what we believe…is resonating across the country. I’m connecting with you, and you’re connecting with one other, and together I believe we can and will inspire a “refounding” of America. But none of this would be possible without the unwavering support of my staff and friends, the unconditional love of my family, the unstoppable spirit of people like you. “Thankful” is hardly the start of it…

Most of all, though, I’m thankful for…time. I had another health scare this year, and while I’m happy to say it was a minor one, it was a sobering reminder that you only get so much time in this world and there is none to waste. By getting myself healthy, I believe that’s given me a bit more time, and through your efforts with the tea parties and the 9/12 Project, and taking an active, vocal role in reclaiming our country, I believe that America has been given more time, too. That’s something we can all be thankful for, today and everyday.

The question we should all ponder during the holiday season is what do we do with the time we’ve been given. This is a historic period–history will record our answer because our individual answers will lead to our collective destiny.

What the heck is going on here? It’s as though I’m unable to awaken from the worst nightmare —in which the most vile creatures, criminals of the basest sort, have been elevated by dear leader to the level of US Citizen, with all the rights thereof. THESE ARE NOT AMERICAN CITIZENS!!!The unabashed temerity with which this administration flaunts its power is disgusting, and this act in particular is sacrilegious and an affront on decency.

WE the PEOPLE are being TERRORIZED!

The ancient Romans had different levels of society. Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus) of the Bible talks of his uniqueness in being a Roman citizen and therefore he must be tried dutifully and cannot be crucified like ordinary peasants. The ancient levels of Patrician and Plebian have no place in American society; however Mr. Obama has deigned to reinstate the idea of social nobility and elite citizen families by the ignorance of bowing to royalty—concepts the Founders were determined would have no place in the new United States. For 230 years, each president has never bowed to recognize nobility, but merely shown respect with a handshake. The important traditions of two and a quarter centuries are now for naught because the overgrown-new-kid-on-the-block (“ONKOB”)has chosen to toss them aside like yesterday’s used gum. Gee, thanks. We didn’t need those protocol people anyway, did we.

Just because a person is IN our country does not mean they receive therights, provisions or protections OF our country!

Who was the original liberal dingaling who spawned THAT idea, anyway? He needs to be drawn and quartered.

The TERRORISTS —- that is, those hairy fellows who came into this country, stayed illegally, planned horrendous things and actually DID them to OVER 3,000 people in three different locations simultaneously (proving the planning part), who created great fear and trepidation (providing the terror part), who in turn created such huge pain for our country that, once the initial shock was over, brought our country closer together and focused us into solidarity against these jihadi killers! Whatever happened to that, Mr. President? All you are doing now is opening the original wounds, disgracing and demoralizing New Yorkers, and parading these SCUM around like they have ANYTHING worth showing off. Bush was right to have them sentenced to death in military court, but Eric Holder put blockade after blockade in place to stop that, didn’t he?!! Now you have your prize – and we have you. Oh joy.

View this video and then write the Obamanation and your non-representing Representatives. (hat tip Atlas Shrugs)

But, you say, we are “not at war.” Oh yes we are. The Jihad war has begun in earnest, and along with the many thousands of terrorist attacks by Muslims recorded just since 9/11/2001, the other instruments, even more effective than those acts of terrorism, of Jihad include deployment of the Money Weapon (and the propaganda it can buy), campaigns of Da’wa, and demographic conquest.

In case you didn’t know, this is the terrible law this scum lives by and requires the rest of the world to uphold:

Understanding Shariah law is integral to understanding the dangers of Shariah-compliant finance. Shariah law is Islamic law dating back to the 7th century and is today the law of the land in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and the law under which the Taliban operates.

Shariah law authorities, some of whom are now being paid handsomely by Barclays, Dow Jones, Standard & Poors, HSBC, Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Deutschebank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Credit Suisse and others have the power to dictate Shariah compliance as deemed by “scholarly consensus” on matters of finance, family, penal law, apostasy, and war.

Examples of authoritarian Shariah law include: requirement of women to obtain permission from husbands for daily freedoms; beating of disobedient woman and girls; execution of homosexuals; engagement of polygamy and forced child marriages; the testimony of four male witnesses to prove rape; honor killings of those, principally women, who have dishonored the family; death to apostate Muslims who chose to leave Islam; inferior status of non-Muslims, and capital punishment for those who “slander Islam.”

Shariah Finance Watch writes, “GE’s involvement with promoting Shariah, the barbaric doctrine of the enemies that seek to replace capitalism, end free speech, eliminate rights for women and phase out self-determination, should come as no surprise given their shameful business partnership with the Jihadist regime in Iran, which ended only after media and shareholder scrutiny just resulted in too much heat for GE’s management.”

The MSM aside, the computer program used by the Indiana State University to count the number of bodies in a picture gave an accurate figure of 1.7 million people attending the 9-12 march on the mall in D.C. last month. That’s a bigger number of people gathered for any political event EVER there. And as subsequent pictures showed, there was very little trash left by these caring folks to be picked up by the local sanitary department the next day. Very nice, indeed.

Here’s the top 20 list of best signage.

Top 20 Memorable Signs From the 9/12 D.C. Tea Party

by Human Events

10/01/2009

1. Give Me Liberty Not Debt

2. Terrorists Won’t Destroy America, Congress Will!

3. Obamacare Makes Me Sick

4. Basic Math: Debt + Bailouts = Fiscal Child Abuse

5. Protect the Rights of the Smallest Minority: The Individual

6. You Cannot Help the Poor by Destroying the Rich

7. No ACORN, No Czars No Cap and Trade, Nobama

8. Madam Speaker, Kiss Our Astroturf

9.$11 trillion and Climbing
Now that’s a Lot of Change

10. I’m Not Your ATM

11. Joe Wilson Was Right

12. Government Healthcare is
the Disease, Not the Cure

13. Chains You Can Believe In

14. Read the Bills or
Get off the Hill

15. No Child Left a Dime

16. Go Green — Recycle Congress.

17. It’s Time to Clean the House
And the Senate

18. Silence is Consent
Can You Hear Us Now?

19. King George Didn’t Listen Either!

20. The American Dream R.I.P.My personal favs are numbers 4, 5 and 16. Long live the Constitution!

Inspired by those who don’t know their history — that written BEFORE today’s version.

Religion, specifically the Judeo-Christian ethic, was responsible for bringing the scientific method thru the Christian universities of the 17th & 18th centuries (e.g. Harvard, Princeton) and in turn brought about seeds of thought about individual responsibility and sanctity as a creation of the Divine to Martin Luther, without whom our country never would have been founded (Kissinger), from which FREEDOM was born. So yes, Virginia, there really IS a Jesus Christ at the center of the universe!

Learn your history and not the scrubbed down secular one in today’s schoolbooks. Go back and research for yourself! Open your mind. Then your mouth. (I sometimes refer to this kind of learning as ‘opening your third eye’.)

All the more reason that the five-plus organizations (NCPA, SSI, CPR, Galen, AAPS, AFP, et al.) that have been collecting petitions should show up in DC at the end of August with the millions of signed petitions that they have collected. Politicians know full well that, where there is smoke, there is fire. They know that when ten or a hundred folks from their district or state are desiring to address them about a specific issue that a factor of ten or more is standing right behind them. Two million-plus signed petitions landing in their offices will be representative of at least 20 million concerned Americans representing all 50 states.

We have approx. 307 million Americans (http://www.census.gov/). Approx. 74 million are children (http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/trends/pf1.pdf). In the recent presidential election, 125,225,901 Americans voted (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/) Approx. 53% voted for Obama, 47% for McCain; that is, approx. 67 million to approx. 58 million. Since Specter is now a Dem. and has not liked what he sees–he thinks most of those showing up at his town hall events are “not necessarily representative of America“–let’s for the sake of arguement presume that the 20 million I estimated above would tend to side with McCain/the Republicans/the anti-ObamaCare camp (take your pick). That’s slightly more than a third from the opposition. That’s approx. 16 percent of all who voted. That’s approx. 8.5 percent of all adults. Take your pick, Sen. Specter. This is NOT a fringe group of Americans.

Clueless Counts

For nearly 50 years Concord High School in Elkhart, Indiana, has featured a live nativity scene as part of its annual Christmas show, which it calls the “Christmas Spectacular.” But this year, the ACLU and the atheist Freedom From Religion Foundation brought a lawsuit on behalf of an unnamed father and his son, a student at Concord, to block the part of the […]

President Obama’s Department of Education has ruled that “common sense and reason” are not allowed to guide decisions of alleged sexual harassment under Title IX. This should come as no surprise, because Title IX is completely unreasonable and void of common sense. Under President Obama, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has begun to inve […]

Massachusetts passed a civil rights law which could put people of faith in jail for following their sincerely-held religious beliefs. The law criminalizes discrimination against certain protected classes in public places. One of the protected groups is transgender people. That means Massachusetts could put a pastor in jail for telling his congregation to onl […]

Yesterday was an important day to celebrate our American heritage. We set aside one Thursday in November to remember the brave men and women who first came to this country seeking a better life. However, there are several lessons that can be learned from the day after Thanksgiving, which is known to most Americans as Black Friday. People who do not love Amer […]

**Previously Record - From the Archives** Thanksgiving is a unique American religious holiday. The Thanksgiving Proclamation signed by President George Washington was the first official presidential proclamation ever issued by the United States. Here is a quote from George Washington’s Proclamation: “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the p […]

Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

2 Chronicles 7:14

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

[See NewsBusters for more.] Former Meet the Press anchor David Gregory appeared on CNN, Friday, to deride the FBI Director for his “unprecedented” move to reexamine Hillary Clinton’s e-mail controversy.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Screen Capture) (CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said during a “town hall meeting” on CNN on Wednesday night that when there is a Democratic president the federal deficit goes down. Please support CNSNews today! (a 501c3 non-profit production of the Media Research Center) DONATE […]

Censorship of online content to control what Americans see and hear has become "one of the greatest threats to free speech," Media Fairness Caucus Chair Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) warned Tuesday. Please support CNSNews today! (a 501c3 non-profit production of the Media Research Center) DONATE […]

Touting a preview of HBO’s new documentary on the life of Arizona Senator John McCain, who is battling terminal brain cancer, on Thursday, NBC’s Today show used the segment as an excuse to slam Republicans over their “rush last summer to replace ObamaCare” and alluded to the former GOP presidential nominee’s “mistake” of selecting Sarah Palin as his running […]

At the recent 2018 Ideas Conference hosted by the Center for American Progress, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) called attention to his earlier proposal for a Corporate Freeloader Fee. In his remarks, Senator Brown explained “it’s simple – if you choose to pay your workers so little that they are disproportionately forced onto government assistance, then you ne […]

Actor James Woods took to his Twitter page to share his displeasure with the National Football League (NFL) and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s latest policy determination meant to address protests that have occurred during the U.S. National Anthem before games, saying, “#lol #BoycottNFL.” Please support CNSNews today! (a 501c3 non-profit production of the […]

The Golden Globes Left-Wing Virtue Signaling Night, last night, as presented by hideous leftist Hollyweird hypocrites, succeeded in doing exactly what we expected: they unwittingly made idiots of themselves. Favorite critique line: I don’t know. Like anyone who lives for attention, the Hollywood... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit ProudToBeCanadian.c […]

The media’s done it. Academia’s done it. Now what is apparently the newest group to come out of the closet and politically identify themselves as leftist is the NFL — its owners, its players, the league itself. But here’s the point of my minimalist post today: it’s a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit ProudToBeCanadian.ca for full links, and other g […]

This paragraph in this article scored a touchdown today: Why #TakeAKnee Is Built On A Lie by Kevin McCullough … thanks to the coaching staffs of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Tennessee Titans that were disobeying league rules found on page A62-A63 (which explicitly... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit ProudToBeCanadian.ca for […]

The week of Sept 11 at least thus far: ♦ This Globe and Mail comedy bit (it IS supposed to be comedy, right?) caused a “whoooboy THAT’S nuts” and an “oh yeah, that’s JUST what we need” — by me: I didn’t read it, because I already got enough comedy and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit ProudToBeCanadian.ca for full links, and other great content! ]] […]

ProudToBeCanadian.ca has been warned by what we’ll call “an Ad Company” that we’re in violation of a policy pertaining to lewd or pornographic content with regard to some content on our site — specifically one page or category of pages within our site. Seems unlikely,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit ProudToBeCanadian.ca for full links, and other […]

Meta Clueless

Samuel Adams

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were
our countrymen.”

John Adams

"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever." (1775 letter to Abigail)

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood." (1765)

"One useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress."

Walter E. Williams on Government

"At the heart of the American idea is the deep distrust and suspicion the founders of our nation had for government, distrust and suspicion not shared as much by today's Americans. Some of the founders' distrust is seen in our Constitution's language such as Congress shall not: abridge, infringe, deny, disparage, violate and deny. If the founders did not believe Congress would abuse our God-given rights, they would not have provided those protections. After all, one would not expect to find a Bill of Rights in Heaven; it would be an affront to God.
"Other founder distrust for government is found in the Constitution's separation of powers, checks and balances and the several anti-majoritarian provisions such as the Electoral College and the requirement that three-quarters of state legislatures ratify changes in the Constitution. The three branches of our federal government are no longer bound by the Constitution as the framers envisioned and what is worse is American ignorance and acceptance of such rogue behavior.
"Look at the current debate over government involvement in health, business bailouts and stimulus packages. The debate centers around questions as whether such involvement is a good idea or a bad idea and whether one program is more costly than another. Those questions are entirely irrelevant to what should be debated, namely: Is such government involvement in our lives permissible under the U.S. Constitution? That question is not part of the debate.
"The American people, along with our elected representatives, whether they're Republicans or Democrats, care less about what is and what is not permissible under our Constitution. They think Congress has the right to do anything upon which they can secure a majority vote, whether they have the constitutional or moral authority to do so or not."
--George Mason economics professor